Amanda Brown browses the clothes in Isaac Mizrahi at the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta on Thursday. Reinhardt University is partnering with the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta on June 7 for a fashion show to raise funds for local scholarships. Staff/C.B. Schmelter

Reinhardt University will partner with the Outlet Shoppes at Atlanta on June 7 for a fashion show to raise funds for local scholarships.

Barbara Manous, director of fundraising campaigns for Reinhardt, said proceeds from the event will go toward the A Day campaign, which provides scholarships for Cherokee County students to attend Reinhardt.

The event, she said, began in 1988 and was known as “A Day for Reinhardt.”

“In the very beginning, we would have volunteers who would select who they would contact, and they would go out on one day into the community and report back in with what they got,” Mainous said. “But our goal got so large that you could not do it in one day. It’s really become a year.”

Now, volunteers spend the year contacting local businesses and individuals for gifts and donations and have proved successful in their efforts.

“We raise approximately $100,000 each year, and every dollar that’s raised is matched by Reinhardt,” she said.

Manous said the effort was originally started due to a lack of enrollment from local students.

“About 20 years ago, we did not have very many Cherokee County students attending Reinhardt,” she said. “Reinhardt was a much smaller school then. It was just a two-year school. So our president at that time thought we needed to do something to encourage the local young people to attend Reinhardt.”

Their efforts can be seen in the results.

The funds, Mainous said, help 230 to 250 students each year with scholarships that range from $500 to $2,000, based on various criteria.

“If you come to Reinhardt as a freshman, you’re automatically qualified to receive the grant,” she said. “Theoretically, a child that goes here all four years and has a 3.0 and lives on the campus will receive a total of $8,000.”

This will be the first year a fashion show will be featured as the fundraising effort.

“Last year, we had a tour of homes,” Mainous said. “I had attended fashion show in the past and I thought it would be a neat thing to do. With the new outlet mall, I thought it would be a good way to bring attention to the mall. I wanted to have it in the Woodstock area. I thought it would be a good way to help the mall and to help us.”

Joan McFather, another organizer of the A Day Campaign, said coordinators of the campaign are excited to hold the event at a new and fun location.

“There will be seating for 200 under a canopy tent,” she said. “Male and female models of all ages will wear clothing from over a dozen stores.”

Karen Rhino, store manager of Brooks Brothers, said the company has a history generosity working with charities.

“Brooks Brothers does a lot of philanthropy and outreach, as far as a company goes,” she said. “We work with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Any time we can work with the community to do things that will benefit the community, we try to do that. Us being a new market here, it’s something that the company and myself, being a store manager, are really passionate about.”

Rhino said this was a good pairing between Brooks Brothers and Reinhardt.

“It’s important to us,” she said. “Reinhardt is a local college and the best way to get support is from local businesses. We’re trying to really get our name out in the community as being able to help folks in things like this.”

Rhino said Brooks Brothers also works with other local colleges, such as Kennesaw State University to put on events such as dressing for success.

Looks for the runway, she said, will vary depending on what models are sent.

“We’ll probably do a sophisticated trend to show you can mix and match the classy look to make it a more fun, casual look,” Rhino said. “And we’ll probably do a suiting piece to show-off that part of our store. With women, we’ll do a derby look.”

Pending approval, Rhino said the store will offer an additional 10 percent off for people who bring in their invitations or tickets.

Tickets will be $25 and will include a brunch beginning at 11:30 a.m., a show of clothing from the mall’s shop and a mall coupon booklet for shopping afterward.

There will be door prizes and opportunities to bid on a selection of gift packages. Tickets can be purchased at Foxtale Book Shoppe in Woodstock, Three Sisters in Hickory Flat, Chamberhouse in Canton, the Cherokee Arts Center in Canton, the Jasper Drug Store in Jasper, or by calling (770) 720-5506.

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